1 6 CARROTS, MANGOLDS AND SUGAR BEETS. 



Some years ago a party wrote me, offering a variety 0{ 

 garden seed at a very low figure, and stated that it was of his 

 own raising. As it was a kind that I was in the habit of rais- 

 ing, I had the curiosity to write and ask how he could afford 

 to raise it at such a price. He replied that it was of his own 

 growing, but so old as to be good for nothing, and therefore 

 he sold it to seedsmen at a very low figure, to mix with their 

 good seed to help make weight! When four pounds of Carrot 

 seed are advised to the acre, for afield crop, I think that some 

 of this kind of seed must somehow have got into the mixture. 

 With everything favoring, and the farmer by experience having 

 his seed sower under perfect control, rather less than a pound 

 of seed will be sufficient for an acre. The great object to 

 aim at is, while having the plants thick enough, not to have 

 much of any thinning to do, as it costs about as much to thin 

 a crop as it does to weed it, with the drawback that the plants 

 left in the ground are more or less started, and so put back 

 by the thinning. As a general rule I would advise one and 

 one-half pounds of seed to the acre, and this the farmer can 

 reduce in proportion as he is favored by circumstances and 

 advances in experience. 



Twelve inches is a sufficient distance between the rows 

 of the two small, early varieties, and fifteen between the rows 

 of all other sorts. With the greatest of care the seed will 

 not come up with mathematical precision. Some advocate 

 leaving a plant to about every inch of row ; others, to thin to 

 four inches apart. Carrots are somewhat like Onions in their 

 aptitude to grow to a good size when crowded, pushing out 

 either side of the rows, and at times crops will give great 

 bulk when the plants are nearer each other than four inches, 

 still, as a rule I advise thinning to near this distance, leaving 

 them thicker near vacant places. 



